
Glass. 
Book. 



I 



YIRGINIA 



HER PAST AND HER FUTURE. 



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AN A "DRESS 



X>El.mKKUl> BKKDUE 




THE PHOENIX SOCIETY 



WILLIAM x\yi) MAKY COLLEGE 



WILLTAMS'in ItG, \A., February 23, lHr)2, 



BY OLIVKR ]'. I; VLDWJN, ESQ., 



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VIRGINIA, 

HER PAST AND HER FUTURE. 

"tit. 

AN ADDEESS 



DELIVERD BEFORE 



THE PHCENIX SOCIETY 



WILLIAM AND MAKY COLLEGE 



WILLIAMSBURG, A., February 23, 1852, 




BY OLIVER P.BALDWIN, ESQ., 



OF RaMOND. 



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PRINTED BY E. . GALLAHER & CO. 
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William 



AND Maky College, ) 
■February 23, 1S52. J 



Dear Sir: — The Phoenix Society of William and Mary College, through 
U8, its Committee, present you its warmest thanks for the very able and 
eloquent address which you h've, this day, delivered before it, and request 
a copy of the same for publication. 

Permit us. Sir, to oiier you, individually and in behalf of the Society, 
the assuracce of our highest esteem, and to subscribe ourt^elves. 
Your most obedient servants, 

WILLIAM Y. PEYTON, "] 
W. M. A. BRODNAX, 
WM. WALTER DOUGLAS, I ,.,„„•,. ^, 
JOHN H. IVEY, J-Commutee. 

J. B. JETT. 
W. A. TODD. 
0. P. Baldwin, Esq. 

Williamsburg, Va. 



J 



Willamsburg, February 23, 18ii2. 

Gentlemen: — Your note requesting a copy of the address which I de- 
livered, to-day, before the Phcenix Society, has been received. I am deeply 
sensible of the kind and generous feelings which have prompted both this 
request and the highly complimentary terms in which it has been com- 
municated, it is from a grateful appreciation of those feelings, that I, in 
accordance with your desire, place the address at your disposal. 

With thanks for the courteous manner in which your request has been 
communicated, and with the best wishes for the prosperity of your Society 
and the individual success and happiness of its members, 
1 am, gentlemen, with great, respect, 

Your obedient servant, 

0. P. BALDWIN. 
Messrs. William Y. Peyton, W. M. A. Brodnax, Wm. Waller Douglas, Jno. 
H. Ivey, J. B. Jett, W. A. Todd. ComndtUe. 



ADDRESS. 



It is with unaiFected embarrassment, gentlemen of the 
Phognix Society, tliat I rise to fulfil the honorable truBt 
which jou have committed to my hands. I am here, an 
untutored scholar, in the presence of those at whose feet I 
should be gUxd to sit as a disciple. Engaged in daily pur- 
suits of a profession which leaves but little leisure for 
suitable reliection and study, I stand, poorly prepared 
for such an occasion as this, before men accomplished in 
learning, and trained to habits of thought and investigation. 
But I had myself surrounded by circumstances and objects 
calculated to relieve me from this embarrassment and to 
withdraw me from all thoughts of self, whether of confi- 
dence or of fear. I stand for the first time in the ancient 
capital of Virginia. My feet press the sod which bears 
the impress of the days of the giants. Around me fall the 
hallowing shadows of the most venerable of Southern 
Colleges, from whose walls have issued some of the bright- 
est ornaments of American Statesmanship and Arms. The 
genius of the place lays a sacred spell upon my suul. The 
spirit of the day gives courage to my heart. I forget the 
Present, for the Past is before me — the sublime and solemn 
Past — its deep billows rolling silently over a thousand 
graves, but its stars shining serenely and unquenchably in 
the blue Heavens. 

The subject, gentlemen, which I have chosen for the occa- 
sion is, YiiiaiNiA, HER Past and hek Futuke, and the Du- 
Tir:s OF HER Young Men. 

It is well for States as for individuals sometimes to pause 
in their onward career ; to survey the ground over which 
they have passed ; to compare it with the present, and by 
it to give impulse and shape to their future course. The 
lessons learned from experience make the deej)est impres- 
sion upon the mind, and, with all well regulated minds, exert 
most iniiuence upon the conduct. It is with this view, it is 
to learn a useful lesson for our own future, and not to min- 
ister to feelings of self complacency, that I would invoke 



jou, "who are ere long to enter upon tlie active duties of life, 
to recall for a moment the Past of Virginia. I know, gen- 
tlemen, that Virginians are often reproached for tlieir ten- 
dency to look backward, to exalt the merits of the foundei'S 
of their State, and to (piaff inspiring draughts from the skulls 
of their ancestors. But that a jnst and exalted apprecia- 
tion of the past, and a frequent contemplation of the vir- 
tues and greatness of its eminent cliaracters are not an idle 
waste of time, nor inconsistent with a practical and ener- 
getic spirit, is evident from the systematic and enthusiastic 
manner in which the very critics who are most prominent 
in bi'inging this charge against Virginia, celebrate the 
character and tiie deeds of the Puritan foundei'S of New 
England. On the day which they call Foretather's Day, 
the sons of the Pilgrims, before the blaze of a hosi)itable 
lire, and amid wine, sentiment and song, commemorate the 
deeds of the stern and solemn men wdio, cold, weary and 
tompest-tost, kindled amid the bleak snows of the North 
the fires of their religious faith, and baptized their new in- 
heritance with the blood of their heathen foemen. Vene- 
ration of the past is therefore not inconsistent with the 
most rigid and severe utilitarian spirit, and only be- 
comes open to just censure, when indulged by those who, 
boasting of the deeds, make no effort to emulate the spir- 
it of their forefathers, and who convert their hard earned 
laurels into a couch of inglorious repose. The acorn has 
but little reason to glory that it has fallen fi-om the oak, 
whilst the oak might be justly proud that it has risen from 
an acorn. Yet, even the acorn would not be utterly ridicu- 
lous in indulging some feelings of self satisfaction, for it 
bears within itthe germ of a future, equally grand and beau- 
tiful with the past. The man who boasts of noble blood 
and is yet content with the condition of a boor is an object 
to be despised, whilst the peasant who makes himself a 
name by genius and energy is nature's true nobleman, 
whose aristocracy bears the patent of Heaven and is re- 
cognized by all mankind. The exiled Jew is not con- 
temptible when, even amid the degradation and misery ot 
])0verty and persecution, he still exults in the valor of Da- 
vid, the wisdom of Solomon, and the magnificence of the 
Temple, for he looks forward to a time when one 
mightier than David, wiser than Solomon and more glo- 
lious than the Temple, shall come to gather the outcasts to 



their ancient home, and make the whole earth beantiful 
with the r]o|)e of Israel. Uut, fur tlie Eoman and the Greek 
who biiikl their wretched hovels amid the slirines of de| arted 
greatness, and have no heart to desire nor arm to vindicate 
their iiather's fame, we cease to feel any other emotions than 
those of pity and almost of contempt. The broken shafts 
of their temples, as the dreary wind sweeps thr(jiigh them 
with its requiem notes, are not as melancholy as those more 
dismal rnins of the human mind, in which not one quality 
of greatness survives, and not one ember of ambition glows 
upon an altar which gods and men have alike deserted. 

Old Virginia ! Often as she is in the thoughts of her 
children, and daily as she is upon their lips, the fresh- 
ness of their aifections is unimpaired by the flight of years, 
and she" even acquires new charms as she is viewed through 
the mellowing atmosphere of time. Her former history 
enlists both the love and the pride of her people. If we 
simply contemplate her social and domestic character, where 
shall we find such a character in greater perfection ? All the 
circumstances in the condition of the primitive Virginians, 
the rural life which they led, their constant struggles with 
a savage foe, their domestic institutions which rendered each 
man the ruler of a little kingdom, were calculated to de- 
velop the MAN in his highest and noblest form ; to bring 
out a spirit of independence, selt-reliance, courage and self- 
respect. The relations of home and of the fireside became 
peculiarly precious and sacred, because they were the chief 
sources of happiness. In such a state of things the " influ- 
ence and importance" of "Woman have, of course, been en- 
hanced, and, as has been justly remarked by an able writer 
on this subject, " this improvement in her social position, 
as is always' the case, has been accompanied by a corres- 
ponding im])rovement in her moral and intellectual facul- 
ties." Now, could I take you to a Virginia fireside of the 
olden time, and, happily, this is one of those features in her 
social life in which there has been little change, you would 
contemplate as lovely a domestic picture as any which the 
eye can behold or the imagination conceive. You would 
find there a miniature commonwealth, governed by equity 
and reason rather than by arl)itrary rule, in which vice was 
stamped wnth the brand of meanness, and virtue supjiorted 
by the iron arm of pride. You would see the domestic and 
social affections, the stronger and more intense, because 



concencrated upon a few objects. You would observe in 
the education of the children, not only by precept, but by 
daily conversation and example, the virtues of the heart 
exalted at least to an equality with the gifts of the mind. 
You would behold the mother, relieved from the drudg- 
ery of menial toil, enabled to devote all the energies 
of her soul and mind to the moral culture of her children. 
And, after all, it seems to me that much as has been said 
of the great men of Virginia, too little has been said of 
the influence which has been exerted by the Virginia Wo- 
man upon Virginia character. It is through her that beauty 
and hai-uiony have been imparted to the strong and rug- 
ged structure of Virginia greatness. It is through her agency 
that the more heroic qualities, the fierce valor, the iron will, 
the indomitable pride, the lion-like independence, of her 
people have been tempered and hallowed by peculiar kind- 
ness, frankness, gentleness, courtesy and truth. If Vir- 
ginia has given to the world a Washington, by whom the 
liberties of this country have been achieved, and the hope 
of deliverance held out to all mankind, it is because the 
social life of Virginia gave birth to lier^ the great and glo- 
rious mother, upon whose knee " the future hero first stood 
erect," and who taught him that genuine greatness consists 
not alone in intellectual excellence, but in its union with 
moral worth, and that it is only when based upon this foun- 
dation that the proud structure can bid defiance to the 
lightning and the storm ! And here I would say that 
Woman, in such a state of things, need not envy the rude 
and exciting career of man. It is her nobler pride, and 
more enduring joy to plant in young hearts the seeds of 
virtue and happiness ; to watch and train the tender plants 
as they grow up to maturity ; to regale herself in the 
spring time with their blossoms and foliage, and in old 
age to sit under their broad branches, rejoicing in the 
pleasant shade of the tree that shelters her evening, and glad- 
dening her dim eyes with its golden and thick clustering 
fruits of immortality. 

If we proceed from those household virtues which lie at 
the foundation of all national virtue, and without which no 
nation can preserve free institutions, to personal chivalry 
and prowess, where shall we find, even in the pages of ro- 
mance, such an embodiment of generous valor and enter- 
prise as Captain John Smith, a warrior and gentleman, who, 



if he had been one of the Pilgrim Fathers, would have 
been eni'olled at the head of their list of illustrious men, 
and have been commemorated at every festival, from Pil- 
grim Ruck to San Francisco, as the most peerless hero ot 
modern times ? If we speak of eloquence, where shall we 
see sucli an orator as Henry, a man of defective education, 
and learned only in the great vctlurae of human character, 
who yet derived from nature an inspiration such as the 
schools never taught, and whose eloquence swayed the minds 
of men as the tempest heaves the great deep ? If we speak 
of calm, sagacious and philosophic Statesmanship, where 
shall we discover a greater than the author of the Decla- 
ration of American Independence? If we turn to the rug- 
ged and repulsive field of the law, where shall we behold 
an intellect at once so massive and so simple as that ot 
John Marshall ? If we speak of military science and va- 
lor, what names in the annals of America more glorious 
than those the thunders of whose victorious cannon have 
just died away on the plains of Mexico, and whose martial 
achievements have extended our territory from the Atlan- 
tic to the Pacific ? If we speak of official distinction, what 
State can present such a roll of citizens elevated to the 
highest honors of the government ? And if we would seek 
a character which combines in itself the Soldier, the States- 
man, the Sage and the Christian ; which presents a picture 
of greatness unmarred by ambition ; of the most exalted 
patriotism and the most spotless private virtue ; a luminary, 
dazzling as the sun, but without a spot upon its disc ; an 
orb which enlightens without consuming — which is so bril- 
liant that the darkest cloud cannot intercept its radiance, 
and yet so mild that the weakest eye may gaze, uidiurt, 
upon its glory — which, even when it has set, leaves upon 
earth and sky a lustre before which all other lights grow 
pale — to whom shall we look but to the world's one "Wash- 
ington ? 

But it is not alone examples of individual greatness 
in every department of human exertion of which Vii-ginia 
has reason to be proud. It is that here were first announced, 
upon the shores of the western world, the true pi'inciples 
of civil and religious liberty. It is that in the earliest pe- 
riod of her history, and in advance of all others, A'irginia 
first established free representative institutions, and present- 
ed a model of free government which was imitated hv all the 



10 

otlier colonies. It was Yirginia, whose Assembly, sitting 
in Jamestown in 1624, (and i'ei)eatedly afterwards) enacted 
the great principle that taxes should not be imposed except 
with the consent of the representatives of the people, an- 
nouncing that principle, even before its establishment in 
the mother country, in the struggle with Charles the First. 
It was Virginia which led the advance in resistance to the 
unconstitutional taxation which the British Parliament en- 
deavored to impose upon this country. It was Virghiia 
which bore a prominent ])art in the struggle that succeeded, 
and which afterwards led the way to tlie formation of the 
American Constitution. It is she, whose influence has been 
as powerful to preserve as to create, whose conciliatory 
counsels have saved the Union from the destroying vor- 
tex of civil war, and whose conservative spirit has arrested 
every eftbrt to eml)roil the Ilepublic in the quarrels of 
Europe, and waste in destructive battle those energies which 
directed to the pursuits of peace have built us up and 
made us one of the most powerful nations of modern 
times. 

Gentlemen, we have been speaking of the past. We 
have been contemplating a })]easant picture of greatness 
and prosperity. But, as we all know, that picture has, in 
many respects, changed. Virginia, once the fiistin influence, 
wealth and representation, is now the fourth in the halls of 
Congress. The power which she once exercised only for 
the common good, has passed to hands which exhibit a dis- 
position to wield it for encroachment, aggression and evil. 
There is at least this consolation remaining to her sons that 
the days of lier inight and glory were never darkened by 
oppression and injustice to her weaker neighbors. She 
might have stood aloof from them in the hour when their 
undiscij^lined yeomxanry were beaten back before the vete- 
ran soldiery of Britain, but her generous heart beat respon- 
sive to their calls for aid, she made their quarrel her 
own, embarked her own blood and treasure in a common 
struggle Vv'itli them, and gave to their cause the great leader 
who led them in triumph from the land of bondage and 
through the Eed Sea of Eevulution. "We see her afterwards, 
in the plenitude of her strength and resources, not only ab- 
staining with most scrupulous delicacy from oftering wrong 
or insult to weaker States, but voluntarily parting, for their 
benefit, with a domain more princely than the " shadowy 



11 

forests, the plenteous rivers and wide skirted meads," which 
old Lear bestowed upon his ingrate daughters. I will not 
pause to pursue the contrast which will suggest itself to your 
minds. The return she has received for all her munificence 
is more painful to her contemplation than the wildest blasts 
of her adversity and misfortune. The Mother of States 
mi gilt with truth exclaim : 

" The tempest in my miod 
Doth from my senses take all feeling: elae, 
Save what beats there — Filial ingratitude ! 
Is it not as this mouth should tear this hand 
For lifting food to 't ?" 

But I will not dwell upon this unpleasant theme. Suf- 
fice it to say that the strength of Virginia has departed, 
but institutions remain which tempt the cupidity of those 
who have stolen her strength. The strong man is slumber- 
ing w^ith his head in the lap of Delilah. I take it for 
granted that there is not a heart which beats in these halls, 
or within her whole limits, which does not pant for the 
restoration of Virginia, and long to see her again in the 
vanguard of power and prosperity. Permit me, gentlemen, 
in the remaining remarks which I propose to offer, to con- 
sider the means by wdiich the object so dear to all our hearts 
is to be obtained, and the motives for their exercise. 

And, in the first place, we must cast off the tenden- 
cy, so long pi-evailing among our people, to live entirely 
in the Past, and learn to make the Present and the Fn- 
ture the absorbing objects of our regards. I would not, 
as the remarks already made have shown, impair the vene- 
ration in which we should hold a great and virtuous ances- 
try, but I would not indulge even this just and natural sen- 
timent at the expense of practical duty. I can sympathize 
witli the sensibility which is awakened by the gray old 
ruins of a famous castle, but, to my eye, those mins are 
even more impressive when they are mantled by a living 
vine. I know that this is a rugged and an iron age, but 
why not soften its harsh features with romance from the 
Future instead of the Past ? "Why not gild its sharp out- 
lines and its yawning fissures with the rays of the rising, in- 
stead of the setting, sun ? Why look for the good times in 
the infancy and corruption of man's condition — why not 
expect them, in faith and hope, in the fuller development 
of his intellectual and moral nature ? "Why not regard the 



12 

brilliant intellectual lustre which flashes from the wonder- 
ful and multiplied inventions of modern times, as the morn- 
ing light of a millenial state? Why not, instead of sigh- 
ing for an Eden in our rear, which we can never entei-, look 
for an Eden in our front, more glorious than the lirst, in 
which man shall be raised to more than his primitive ele- 
vation, and the voice of God shall be heard once more in 
the shades of the garden, holding communion with regene- 
rated humanity '( 

But, gentlemen, whilst we must not dwell in the past ; 
whilst we must not make our home in the mausoleum of 
departed greatness, we may and should learn a lesson from 
the career of the foundere of the Commonwealth. And 
what is the example which they have set us and which we 
ought to imitate? It is an example of perseverance, of en- 
ergy, of self-denial ; it is not one of reliance upon the Past. 
In settling and founding this Commonwealth, they com- 
menced a new era, and applied themselves resolutely to the 
exigencies of that era. They were most of them men who 
might have found, in the traditions of their ancestral line, 
as soft a couch as any upon which their descendants repose. 
But they chose a nobler part. They addressed themselves 
vigorously to the new state of things, and the new sphere 
of action in which they were placed. They cultivated the 
wilderness, they subdued the savage, they planted the 
seed of civilization, religion and liberty in the soil of the 
new world. They laid the foundations upon which we are 
called to build. They established free principles of govern- 
ment and deflned the landmarks of authority. Their work 
has been done and requires only vigilance and care for its 
preservation. It is not knowledge of our rights that is now 
wanted ; it is the power to protect them. We must adopt 
their energy, resolution and self-denial, but we must apply 
them to new fields of effort. The steamboat, the rail road, 
the magnetic telegraph, and other wonderful arts have come 
into being since their day. That nation is no longer the 
greatest which devotes itself to military pursuits. The vic- 
tories of peace have become more decisive than the triumphs 
of war. Commerce, industry, trade and labor are revolu- 
tionizing the world. It is by these means that England 
has retained the supremacy she achieved by feats of arms. 
Steam has been adopted in the old world as well as the 
new, and bonds of iron are binding Europe into a confede- 



13 

racy of nations. Even Russia finds them indispensable to 
her purposes of military ambition and power, and has 
availed herself of American skill in their construction. 
"Were I called upon to point to an example in our own coun- 
try of the means by which a State may acquire power and 
wealth, I would direct your attention to the New England 
States. It is a truth which will be made manifest upon in- 
vestigation, that New England is not entirely indebted for 
her prosperity to the favor of the General Government. 
The character of her sons was originally formed upon a sys- 
tem of independence, of self-reliance, of courage and reso- 
lution. The dauntless spirit which led their fathers to for- 
sake the luxuries of civilized life and pitch their tents in a 
howling wilderness, still survives, and glows with increas- 
ing fervor in the bosoms of their descendants. It was no 
nursery plant, requiring a warm sun and artificial j)rotec- 
tion, which has struck its roots into the New England soil. 
A stm'dy tree indeed it must have been which, planted upon 
a rocky cliff by the ocean side, growing up amid the roar 
of winds and waves, wrestling continually with the tem- 
pest, and exposed to the fury of the thunderbolt, has at last 
attained the majestic altitude of a lofty oak, and spreading 
abroad its leafy arms for a shelter to thousands, towers up- 
Avards the more grand and beautiful from its victory over 
an adverse fate. If the New Englander has prospered it 
has been against as well as by the policy of the govern- 
ment. He engaged in the pursuits of commerce and trade, 
and from the heart of a rocky coast and the bowels of a 
raging sea his strong hand plucked the elements of great- 
ness, wealth and power. But, in the height of his prosper- 
ity, a sudden paralysis struck down his fortunes. He resist- 
ed to the last that change of governmental policy by which 
this result was accomplished, but, when resistance became 
inefiectual, what was his course ? Did he prepare himself 
to forsake the rude soil where he had labored so long, only 
to reap the bitter fruits of disappointment ? Did he sit down 
with folded hands to mourn over the ruin which had come 
upon his hopes ? Did he curse God and die ? No ! A 
different spirit reigned in his bosom. He could not leave 
the scenes of his youth, the battle-fields of his fathers, tlic 
tombs that hold their bones, the theatre of his own past 
greatness. He turned himself to new pursuits. The cur- 
rent of his industry and enterprise forced out new channels. 
2 



14 

Over the whole laud his workshops rose, and the sound of 
his cheerful toil was heard in the hammer ringing on the 
anvil, the music of machinery clanging upon a thousand 
water courses, and the hot breath of steam speaking with 
its stormy voice of the stronger spirit that ruled its energies 
and would not be subdued. Again prosperity returned, 
again wealth poured in its golden tide, again the stern and 
resolute will triumphed over all opposition. May not Vir- 
ginia, without derogation from true dignity, imitate the 
practical spirit which has achieved these results, seize upon 
the same opportunities which New England has employed 
and contend with her in a manly strife for opulence and 
power ? I am not one of those who echo the fashionable 
cant about the degeneracy of Virginia. It is not because 
of degeneracy in intellect or in spirit that Virginia has 
ftillen behind other States in wealth and greatness. It 
is simply because she has neglected plain and practical 
means of improvement, and employed her energies in fede- 
ral instead of state affairs, 'i he ablest men of the South 
have gone to Congress whilst the ablest men of the North 
have remained at home, and devoted their talents and their 
time to their domestic interests. And thus it has happened 
that the South, with all her talent abroad, finds herself in 
a minority in the councils of the nation, and the North 
with all lier talent at home has obtained the majority in 
Congress and in the country. That Virginia possesses the 
Requisite energy is fully demonstrated by the successful 
manner in which her sons have conducted the aftairs of the 
nation in the council and its battles in the field. If half 
the intjustry and perseverance she has exerted upon a na- 
tional arena had been directed to her own aftairs, her har- 
bors would, at this moment, be crowded with shipping, hfer 
coasts with populous cities, and her forests would i-ejoice 
and blossom as the rose. A distinguished lawyer of New 
York was once asked why he did not go to Congress. 
" What for V^ was the reply. " Why to shine, to gain lau- 
rels," said the querist. " Yes, and when I come home and 
my children ask for bread, can I feed them with the leaves 
of the laurel V^ My friends, Virginia has been feeding too 
long on laurels. They are unsubstantial f iod. They can- 
not keep her from starvation. They are but a mocking 
crown when they encircle the pale, cold brow of Death. 
I have said, gentlemen, that this is a practical and utili- 



15 

tarian age and that this spirit is more ftilly developed in 
this country than in any other on the face of the gk)be. I 
will admit that it has its excesses, and that nothing but a 
higher object than mere personal gain can recommend it to 
our adoption ; yet when we are considei'iug the best means 
to restore the prosperity of Yirgim'a, M'e are bound to give 
due weight to M'hat it has accomplished tor oui- country at 
large. And I cannot more forcibly set forth the results 
which it has achieved upon a national theatre than by qnc>- 
ting an acknowledgment made by the leading organ of our 
mother country, and a journal which has heretofore heaped 
only ridicule and libels upon every thing bearing the name 
of American. Speaking of the people of the United States, 
the London Times says : 

"In an interval of more than half a century it appears 
that this extraordinary people have increased above 500 
per cent, in numbers ; their national revenue has aug- 
mented nearly TOO per cent., while their expenditure has 
been increased lit*^le more than 400 ))er cent. The prodi- 
gious extension of their connnerce is indicated by an in- 
crease of near 500 per cent, in their imports and exports, 
and 600 per cent in their shi])ping. Tlie increased activity 
of their internal communications is expounded by the num- 
ber of their post offices, which has been increased more 
than a hundred fold, the extent of their post roads, which 
has been increased thirty-six fold, and the cost of their post 
office, which has been augmented in a seventy-two fold rii- 
tio. The augmentation of their machinery V)f public in- 
struction is indicated by the extent of their public libraries, 
which have increased in a thirty-two fold ratio, and by the 
creation of school libraries, amounting to 2,000,000 vol- 
umes. 

" They have completed a system of canal navigation, which 
placed in a continuous link, %vould extend from London to 
Calcutta, and a system of railways which, continuously 
extended, would stretch from London to Van Dieman*s 
Land, and have provided locomotive machinery by which 
that distance would be travelled over in three weeks, at 
the cost of 1 l-2d. per mile. They have created a system 
of inland navigation, the aggregate tonnage of wliich is 
probably not inferior in anVountto the collective iidand 
tonnage of all tiie other countries in the world, and they 
possess many hundreds of river steamers, which impart to 



16 

the roads of water the marvelous celerity of roads of iron. 
They have, in line, constrncted lines of electric telegraph 
which, laid continuously, would extend over a space longer 
by 3U00 miles than the distance from the ISIorth to the 
South pole, and have provided apparatus of transmission 
by which a message of 300 words dispatched under such 
circumstances from the north pole might be delivered in 
writing at the south pole in one minute, and by which, 
consequently, an answer of equal length could be sent back 
to the north pole in an eqnal interval." 
Such, gentlemen, are the concessions of the London Times, 
and here I wdll ask your attention to the fact that the great- 
est empire of modern times, greatest in learning, in war, 
in luxury, refinement and wealth, has presented the no- 
blest tribute which has yet been given to the practical 
spirit of the age, in that "• grand cosmopolitan Olympiad 
of Industry" called the World's Fair; a work which was 
the grand conception of her Prince, which was opened by 
the Queen with more than the pomp and ceremony of the 
opening of Parliament, and which she daily graced and en- 
couraged with her presence and with every manifestation 
of interest. Can a more striking contrast be imagined be- 
tween the Past and the Present, than tlie Tournament of 
former days, in which knight met knight in deadly com- 
bat and the hands of Beauty dispensed the emblem of tri- 
mnph to the superior in brutal strength, and this Fair of 
the World's Labor, in which the fruits of the earth, of pa- 
tient toil and mental ingenuity, were gathered in a crys- 
tal palace, glorious and beautiful trophies of mightier vic- 
tories than those of war ; in which Arts triumphed over 
Arms ; in M'hich the discoverer, the inveutor, the architect, 
the mannfacturer, and the laborer, took precedence of 
the warrior, and received the respectful homage of Briton's 
Iron Duke ; in which the Lion of England's Battles lay down 
with the Lamb of her Peaceful Industry, and the organ's 
sweetest notes proclaimed Peace on Earth, Good Will among 
Men ? Flere was the human mind, enthroned upon the count- 
less spoils which it had drawn from earth and sea; kings glad- 
ly acknowledging its superior royalty and nobles rejoicing to 
kiss its sceptre. Nor, in this connection, can I omit the 
fact that, ridiculed as our country was at the commence- 
ment of this exhibition, yet, in the end, it was admitted 
that in every thing of practical iitility America had taken 



ir 

the lead. Upon English soil, McCormick's ' Yirginia Reap- 
er' gathered in a harvest of renown, of which any State 
and any conntry might well be prond, and npon English 
waters, beneath the shadow of Albion's white cliffs, and 
with Albion's Queen looking on, an American vessel, con- 
strncted by a son of the South, proved in the face of a 
wondering world that, in peace, as well as in war, Colum- 
bia " rules the waves." 

Nor is the World's Fair the only striking evidence which 
the times present of the appreciation of useful and practi- 
cal pursuits in the Old AVorld. An eminent Virginian, 
now in Paris, writes to a friend in this country that, in the 
principal schools of France, distinguished as they are by 
a high standard of science and learning, education is made 
eminently practical by giving full development to the ap- 
plication of science to the various heads of industry and 
art, from which England, with her usual sagacity, has taken 
a hint in the establishment of her " Government Schools of 
Mines and Science applied to the Arts." Can it, then, I 
ask, be beneath the dignity of Yirginia to imitate such 
illustrious examples ? Is there not presented in these pur- 
suits an honorable theatre for her youthful talent, and one 
which promises greater benefits to it and the Common- 
wealth than the crowded, miry and unprofitable field of 
federal politics. 

It is by such a course, and by such a course only, that 
Yirginia can be raised to an equality with the other States. 
Hail roads, canals, steamships, manufactories are the true 
engines of conquest and supremacy in our age and our 
country. The locomotive, with its attendant train of cars, 
may not be as fascinating an object to a youthful imagina- 
tion as a troop of armed horsemen, decorated with gay ban- 
ners, careering over a fertile country, and leaving ruin, deso- 
lation and broken hearts in their path. But there is something 
to my mind even more beautiful as well as valuable in the 
rail road which creates instead of destroys, which raises 
happy cities on its margin, and makes new harvests spring 
up in its path. And there is something even more sub- 
lime as well as useful in the iron horse, flying with a speed 
which laughs the trooper to scorn, yet never wearying 
with his incessant toil ; moving with mysterious and resist- 
less energy by day, and breathing sparks of fire from his 
glowing nostrils as he scours the midnight path. There 



18 

is a terrible magnificence, I admit, in the toars of a great 
nation, when she lights up the firmament with the blinding 
flashes of her wrath, and makes it echo with the startling 
thunder])olts of destruction. But she appeals more both to 
my respect and mj love when she is the silent and peace- 
ful cloud from which fall gentle rains, noislessly, but con- 
stantlj, to refresh the parched earth ; to cause grass to re- 
vive and grain to grow ; to give a new bloom to faded flow- 
ers, and make a desolate landscape smile, through its tears, 
with the jo J and beauty of Paradise. 

These potent engines of modern improvements — rail 
roads and. canals — I would enlist for Virginia, to draw forth 
the resources of her mountains and her plains and pour 
them upon her rivers. I would not ask nor care what 
particular locality they would benefit, so long as they 
would raise Virginia in the scale of States. I would 
know no Blue Bidge and no Alleghany, but would bind 
her. East and West, with great, massive chains of iron, 
through which, from the heart to the extremities should 
circle the electric fire of patriotism, irradiating her whole 
system with one eternal glow of common love and common 
loyalty. I would unite the whole South in policy and inte- 
rest, and bring its people together as the people of the 
]Srorth are brought together by those ties of close intercom- 
munication which only an extended and combined system of 
rail roads affords. I would develope her manufacturing 
interests, encourage her ow^n schools and patronize her own 
productions of every kind, thus drawing to herself skill, 
labor and population, and, by establishing direct trade with 
Europe, make her independent in fact as she is in name, and 
give her the might to vindicate the right. 

But am I told by those who dwell upon the dark side of 
the picture and who love to mourn over the supposed de- 
generacy of Virginia, that she is past redemption ; that her 
lands are exhausted, that her wilderness and swamps can 
never be reclaimed ; that she has had her day, and must 
give way to fresher and younger Commonwealths ? I deny 
the correctness of those melancholy views. I assert that 
she is at this moment the newest and the youngest State in 
this Union, and the richest in all that constitutes national 
wealth. Her agricultural productions have been stea- 
dily increasing for the last ten years, and it is believed 
will be doubled at the termination of the next decade, 



19 

but even if great natural obstacles existed, they would be no 
impediment in the path of a great people. Let us look for 
example and encouragement to the Old World. The most 
powerful and the most fertile countries of Europe are those 
like England and Holland, in which the art and industry of 
man have successfully warred against the opposition of na- 
ture. Look in particular at England. Our countrymen 
who visit the mother land are charmed with the perfection 
of her agriculture and with the productive capacity of her 
soil. Yet, not two centuries ago, according to high autho- 
rity, the arable land and pasture land of England were not 
supposed to amount to much more than half the area of 
the kingdom, and the remainder consisted of moors, forest 
and marsh. John Ogilby, Cosmographer Royal, described 
a great part of the land in 1675, as wood, fern, heath on 
both sides, marsh on both sides. Upon one road, for forty 
or fifty miles, there was not a single enclosure. It is also 
stated, as highly probable, that in the course of little more 
than the past century "^a fourth part of England has been 
turned from a wild into a garden." The traveller who now 
finds himself surrounded on all sides by the unequalled 
beauties and richness of an English landscape, can hardly 
credit the fact that, not two centuries ago, many routes 
which now pass through an endless succession of orchards, 
hay fields and corn fields, ran through nothing but heath 
and swamp. In 169G, the whole quantity of M'heat, rye, 
barley, oats and beans then annually grown in the king- 
dom was somewhat less than eighty millions of bushels, 
and the wheat was estimated at less than sixteen millions 
of bushels. At present, an average crop of these produc- 
tions is supposed considerably to exceed two hundred and 
forty millions of bushels, and the ordinary crop of wheat 
exceeds ninety-six millions of bushels, larger than the whole 
crop of every kind in 1696. Does the agricultural condi- 
tion of Yirginia present any such discouragements as those 
which have been overcome in England ? or if it does are we 
not as capable as Englishmen of successfully encountering 
them. And if we speak of being behind the age in other re- 
spects, what is the picture which a late historian gives us of 
England at a period more than half a century subsequent to 
the first settlement of Yirginia ? He tells us that could the 
England of that day be set before Englishmen now, they 
would not know one landscape in a hundred, or one build- 



ing in ten thousand. She had then but little more than 
five millions of inhabitants ; the annual revenue of the 
crown was about £1,400,000 ; agriculture was in a rude and 
imperfect state ; the streets of London were involved in 
such profound darkness as to make walking dangerous ; the 
roads in the country were bogs and sloughs in which car- 
riages were often swamped, unless they had six horses ; 
sixpence a day was paid the weaver at the loom ; children 
of six years old were thought fit for labor in the clothing 
trade ; meat was so dear that it is estimated by Kino;, that 
of the 880,000 families of England 440,000 only ate ani- 
mal food twice a week, and the remainder ate it not at all, 
or at most not oftener than once a week ; the great mass of 
the nation lived almost entirely on rye, barley and oats ; 
the paupers and beggars were estimated at 1,330,000 out 
of a population of 5,550,000 ; as many as at present with 
a j^opulation four times as large ; the rate of deaths in 
the capital was one in twenty-three ; now it is one in for- 
ty ; men died faster in the country than they do now in 
towns ; noblemen had not the comforts which are now com- 
mon to ther servants. Statesmen, without giving scandal, 
could easily accumulate princely estates ; the most savage 
intemperance of party spirit prevailed ; blood could not 
flow fast enough to satisfy the thirst for political revenge ; 
Whigs hooted at Tory victims and Tories at Whigs as they 
passed on to execution ; there was no daily paper in En- 
gland ; few of the gentry had libraries as good as English 
footmen now possess ; female education was almost entirely 
neglected ; the poetry and eloquence of Greece were not fa- 
miliar even to accomplished gentlemen ; prisoners were 
pressed to death for refusing to plead, and women burned for 
coining ; moss troopers and robbers so abounded in parts of 
the kingdom that the gentry and larger farm houses were 
fortified, and parishes were obliged to keep bloodhounds for 
the purpose of hunting free-booters, while there were por- 
tions of the metropolis in which the warrant of the Chief 
Justice could not be executed without the aid of a body of 
armed men. 

Not quite two centuries have passed since this period 
and what a change ! Ye who speak of Virginia as " be- 
hind the age," look upon that picture and see how man can 
triumph over nature, and how, by the Divine aid, his own 
nature can be elevated to almost angelic virtue and intelli- 



gence. Look upon this picture and tell me, why Virginia 
should not, before some of these raven locks about me are 
turned to white, become the England of the New World. 

Virginia is marked out by the hand of her Creator for a 
sublime future. Look at her extent of sea coast, her noble 
rivers, her spacious harbors, her majestic mountains, her 
mineral and agricultural treasures, her central geographi- 
cal position in the confederacy ; her variety of productions ; 
her climate, bracing among her hills as the breezes of Swit- 
zerland and bland in her lowlands as the soft breath of 
Italy. Young men of Virginia, this is the home which 
God has given you, a home in which the ashes of your fa- 
thers sleep, and which is lighted by the rays of their 
never dying fame. Prove yourselves worthy this heri- 
tage. Desert not your sacred trust. The God of na- 
ture has intended this for the land of a great j^eople. 
And great it will be, with your efforts, or without them. 
Yes, if you slumber, others will enter in, and foreign hands 
will perform your work. I doubt not, I cannot doubt, no, 
not for a moment, the Jj'uture of Virginia. It looks upon 
me now, sublime and beautiful, from her mighty hills ; it 
smiles in her lovely valleys ; it flashes in her limpid streams ; 
it sings in her mountain breezes ; it thunders in her ocean 
waves. Here yet must be the great central seat of Ameri- 
can commerce and power. The shipping of the world must 
yet crowd these harbors, and the trade of the West and 
even of California be poured upon these shores. Instead 
of her sons forsaking their parent State, the sons of stran- 
gers will come here and pitch their tents among your graves. 
From the ruins of the old Virginia shall come forth the 
living and life giving energy of the New, like a fresh and 
transparent fountain s])ringing from the moss-covered ruins 
of some gray old rock, sending forth a wide and fer- 
tilizing stream to spread beauty and verdure wherever it 
flows, and reflecting from its bright waters the starry glo- 
ries of the skies. 

If, however, gentlemen, these plain and practical pursuits 
and that domestic ])olicy which I advocate, still seem 
homely and unattractive, consider, I pi-ay you, the purjiose, 
the glorious purpose which recommends them, and let that 
consecrate it in your afl'ections. You will labo.i for the sake 
of Virginia if not for your own sakes. We read in Holy 
Writ that, amid the heat of day and the dews of night 



Jacob served Labaii in exhausting employments for fourteen 
years, but he served him to obtain Rachael, and they seemed 
as nothing for the love that he bore unto her. Let Virginia be 
the object of your heart's deep devotion, and the heaviest toil 
will be light, and the humblest path will be lofty which leads 
you to her side. Keep in vieAv the purpose, gentlemen, the 
purpose, not of your own individual aggrandizement, but 
of the greatness of the Commonwealth. Enterprise, prompt- 
ed by a principle of patriotism, will be in harmony with 
the noblest features of Virginia character, and is not de- 
rogatory or degrading like that which proceeds from a sor- 
did desire of pecuniary gain, Heaven forbid that from such 
a motive I should invoke Virginians to act. It is not to 
build up gi'eat commercial and manufacturing marts for 
the mere purpose of wealth and display that 1 would en- 
list your enei'gy, but for the safety and power of Virginia. 
I rejoice to say that, however far this old Commonwealth 
may be behind the North in riches and luxury, she is still 
unapproached in her ancient virtues, in truth, frankness, 
generosity, integrity and disinterested love of country. Still 
stand wide open her hospitable doors, and still her house- 
hold fires burn l)rightly and purely uj^on their ancient altars. 
Better, far better that she should forever be poor, if she 
could also be independent ; better that the grass should 
grow in the streets of her toAvns ; that her harbors should, 
forever be solitary ; that eternal silence should reign in her 
mountains, than that Math the wealth of the great cities of the 
Avorld, slie should be cursed with their corruption of morals, 
their abuse of female innocence, the wild lawlessness of 
their poverty, and the heartless aristocracy of their wealth. 
But, gentlemen, while increasing prosperity may bring such 
evils in its train, we may hope that the stern virtues of the 
Virginia character and our peculiar domestic institutions 
will avert or greatly mitigate such a result, whereas, on the 
other hand, we cannot find security in inaction, for if you 
do not exert your own powers, you will inevitably transfer 
to your shores a population which will build up the State 
in wealth, but will spread a moral and social blight upon 
it from the Ohio to the seaboard. Bear in mind that it is 
not only self-defence, but absolute self-preservation that 
calls you to action. The population of the North is daily 
swelling by immigration from abroad ; the population of 
Virginia is daily weakened by emigration from home. 



Every decade increases Northern power in the country and 
in Congress. New territories will soon be erected into 
States. And as Northern power increases who can gaze 
withont alarm upon the dangerous doctrines in politics and 
morals which seem to be prevalent among the mass of 
the population. Abolitionism, threatening your dearest 
rights, and slaying your citizens whose blood cries in 
vain from the ground ; socialism and agrarianism seek- 
ing to overwhelm the household and despoil its in- 
mates ; religious fanaticism, giving birth to its Joe Smiths 
and knocking spirits ; the miserable doctrine of interven- 
tion, seeking to subvert the established policy of the coun- 
try, and embroil her in the mazes of a foreign war ; and 
lastly, that disgusting spirit of man worship, that germ of a 
monarchical spirit, which is never so happy as when dangling 
at the heels of distinguished foreigners, and which has just 
completed its last and maddest of all freaks in exalting 
a foreign adventurer over the head of George Washing- 
ton ! Such are the wild, corrupting and ruinous doctrines 
which have gained alarming strength among the popula- 
tion in whose hands the reins of power are placed. Would 
you defend Virginia, her institutions, her laws, her liberties, 
the bright virtues of her social hearth against this impend- 
ing and awful peril ? To whom will you look for succor ? 
To the General Government ? What have your fathers, 
with all their abilities and all their eloquence, achieved on 
that arena? Your only course is to obtain the numbers by 
which the engine of federal power can be controlled. For 
that purpose, let us leave lofty dreams of the past and 
imbue ourselves thoroughly with the practical spirit of the 
age. It may be an humble, lowly and obscure vocation, but 
it will be followed hj the safety, strength and prosperity of 
the Commonwealth. Beneath the wide ocean of misfor- 
tune, let us keep alive the spirit of energy and labor, work- 
ing like the coral insect in the cavei-ns of the deep, until at 
last an island slowly raises its head to the ocean's face, bid- 
ding defiance to the fury of the waves, inviting to its calm 
retreat the wandering birds of air, springing forth in vege- 
tation, and bursting at last upon the astonished view, a 
green and glowing garden in the midst of a waste of waters. 
In conclusion, gentlemen, I would avail myself of the 
commemoration of this great day to declare most emphati- 
cally that in dwelling upon our duties to our own Common- 



wealth, I do not desire to weaken your affection to the 
American Union. In the language of one of our most 
illustrious Statesmen : " I am not one of those who indulge 
the apprehension that a fervent and devoted attachment to 
the particular State of our birth or adoption could lessen, 
in any degree, the sentiment of duty and affection we owe 
to our whole country. On the contrary, by a law of our 
moral nature, all our public affections take their origin in 
the small but magic circle which defines our home, and 
thence spread, by successive expansions, till they embrace 
and repose upon our country." I know that over the 
American Union, as over the States of the South, clouds 
still hover ; clouds which cast upon all the earth a melan- 
choly shadow, for, be assured, when the golden cross of om* 
Republic finally disappears from the firmament, the politi- 
cal salvation of all mankind has no longer a foundation for 
hope. No where else, as recent events have so fully 
demonstrated, no where else on the whole earth is there the 
slightest chance for the successful establishment of Eepub- 
lican principles. The pearls thrown to the French swine 
have been trampled under foot. Russia is advancing with 
slow but certain progress to the shores of the Atlantic, and 
unless the military passion of the French nation intercepts 
her course, Europe will soon become Cossack. We cannot 
and we ought not to interfere in the afiairs of the Old World ; 
but we can, and our duty to mankind requires that we shall 
preserve an asylum here for wronged and suffering hu- 
manity. I know that the Union has been perverted ; that 
its powers have been abused ; that it has been made the 
engine of oppression, and that it still has its perils. But 
how shall we best prevent farther injustice and future dan- 
ger ? Not by paper bulwarks ; not by gusts of passionate 
eloquence, but simply and alone by building up the trade 
and industry of the South. Give the South the numbers 
and they who willingly make aggression upon weakness 
will cease to make it upon power. Whilst there may be 
differences of opinion among our citizens in regard to the 
value of the American Union, there can be no desire for 
its dissolution, except as a remedy for worse ills, and no 
feeling but of hope that the Union may be jireserved by a 
faitliful adherence of the General Government to the Ameri- 
can Constitution. Gentlemen, we hold in the hollow of 
our own hands the shield and safeguard of Southern Rights, 



and with it the preservation and the perpetuity of the 
American Union. It is for us to say whether George 
Washington shall have been raised up in vain ; whether, 
not the great leader only, but all the children of our politi- 
cal Israel are to " die on the banks of Jordan in sight of 
the promised land." It is for you to say whether Yirginia, 
whicli led the way to the Union, shall not also lead the way 
in the policy of preserving it by strengthening the foun- 
dations of State independence upon which it rests, and by 
relno^^ng from aggressive and dishonest spirits the temp- 
tation to do evil. I doubt not that you will all agree with 
me that if this Union can be preserved by ensuring a faith- 
ful performance of the Constitutional compact, that object 
is well worth the most earnest devotion of om' hearts and of 
our lives. If we can retain the glorious traditions of the 
past ; if we can hold together, without detriment to the in- 
dependent sovereignties of which it is composed, that mag- 
nificent confederacy which is rapidly making us first among 
the nations, and causing our elder brethren of England to 
do homage to the Joseph whom their oppressions drove 
from his lather's house ; if we can secure that fdtuee, so 
glorious beyond all expression, in which two hundred mil- 
lions of people shall stand upon American soil, all free, all 
educated, all speaking one tongue, all acknowledging one 
God, and sending up their anthems of prayer and praise 
like the sound of many waters — if we can secure such a 
futm*e, then it is worthy of every toil, of every aspiration, 
of every sacrifice, except the sacrifice of honor, of truth, 
and of right. The only way to secm-e it, gentlemen, I am 
as firmly convinced as of 2ny own existence, is to pursue 
the course which I have endeavored to enforce in this ad- 
dress ; to develope the resources and the industry of the 
South ; to encourage its own labor, its own trade, its own 
commerce, its own schools ; to abide by the graves of your 
fathers, and never to forsake the Commonwealth which 
looks to her young men to raise her Phoenix-like from her 
ashes, and plume her pinions for a flight to the highest 
Heaven of power and prosperity. Build up Souuiern 
strength and you establish, by that act, the perpetuity of 
the Republic. Thus alone can the Union of the States be 
preserved ; thus shall it become eternal, dispensing blessings 
to the most remot eposterity ; and standing serene, beauti- 
ful and young in the old age of time, the last sunset of 
3 



earth shall see its flag still flying, and in the millenial 
morning its Stars, like those of Creation, shall sing together 
for joy. 

Gentlemen of the Phoenix Society, I might have select- 
ed a subject more congenial to the literary tastes of this en- 
lightened assembly, but I felt impelled, as the best acknowl- 
edgment which I could make of the honor you have con- 
ferred upon me, to speak upon a toj)ic which might have a 
practical tendency, and contribute in some humble degree 
to the ]3rogress of a State, the birth-day of whose greatest 
son we this day commemorate in her ancient capital, under 
the auspices of her most venerable institution of learning, 
and in the presence of those who may ere long be called to 
control her destinies. And I may add that it is among my 
fondest hopes that, with the retm-ning greatness of the State, 
the College of William and Mary may be restored to more 
than its former influence and usefulness ; that its walls may 
be crowded with youthful votaries of learning and science ; 
and that when the State has risen once more to its feet, like a 
giant refreshed with wine, it may be the exalted province of 
this venerable College to temper, with a conservative influ- 
ence, the progressive spirit of the times, to place in the 
hand of Young Virginia the spear of Intelligence, and to 
buckle upon her breast a shield of Virtue so bright that it 
will reveal the lurking dangers of prosperity, and so strong 
that it will resist the keenest shafts of adverse fate ! 



LBJe'lO 



